Selling 101 – Shows Well, Sells Quick

Buyer confidence in the Calgary and area market continues to evolve as the region adapts to the changes in the real estate landscape. To assist in making your home as presentable as possible, the first item on your list of improvements should be curb appeal. Curb appeal is simply the attractiveness of your home from the outside. First impressions are made within seconds, so make sure the first impression buyers have on your home is a positive one by having the trees and shrubs trimmed, the walkway cleared and landscaping impeccable. Get rid of all trash and debris from the yard, and make sure you fix anything that may look negative at first glance to those driving by such as dated fixtures, chipping paint or old doors.

After you’ve made sure that the outside is looking good, next on your list is the inside, the real selling point of your home. To make sure the inside of your home looks good to potential buyers work out a list of things that could use some sprucing up. The first step should be decluttering. Buyers want to imagine their family, their furniture and their life in your home – so give them the canvas that allows them to do that. Remove things like photos and personal effects and anything too disruptive to the flow of the interior.

As part of my service as a real estate agent, I provide a stager to help prepare your home for sale. A stager will bring the best out of your home by emphasizing the positives and minimizing the negatives. The decluttering process is part of home staging, but there are many other things to consider as well. Arrange large furniture so that it doesn’t impede buyers as they moved through the home; empty kitchen and bathroom countertops so that they are clear and uncluttered. The less unnecessary items you have around, the less distracted potential buyers will be. The stager will help you with this process.

Lastly, I always make sure my clients know that simply cleaning their home from top to bottom will make the home even more attractive and show its best. Potential buyers can forgive a few things, but not a dirty home. They will have a hard time getting past pet smells or toilets that aren’t cleaned. Give the home a thorough cleaning and you will already be ahead of many other properties.

The bottom line is that every seller should adjust their home to what a potential buyer would like. From the inside out, your home should look pristine as if it were the first time you were seeing it. A good real estate agent will advise you on the best things to improve upon to make your home the best it can be.